Interactive computing has grown exponentially in direct proportion to the rapid growth and advancement in processing speeds, graphical capabilities, and integrated networking of personal computers. As the daily lives of consumers become more digitally integrated, more and more consumers are working, playing, shopping, and socializing in online communities. More specifically, users are interacting in public and private virtual worlds. Significantly, virtual world interactive computing has become increasingly popular among children and young adults. Many prior art systems have been created to attempt to provide ways for children to interact with both real and virtual toys.
For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0287925 (“'925 Publication), filed Oct. 8, 2004, discloses a collectable item with a human readable code to provide access to interactive games. The collectable item disclosed in the '925 Publication is a toy with a human readable code. The '925 Publication describes that this human readable code is to be laser etched onto the plastic or metal chassis of the toy. The user can enter the numeric human readable code etched onto the side of the toy into computer software and then create a user account to gain access to an interactive game, card game, web based game or internet game. The human readable code can provide the user with access privileges to special sites, boards, levels, skill sets or powers.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0177428 (“'428 Publication), filed Dec. 30, 2004, provides a system in which user can purchase a toy in a retail store including a unique registration code. The '428 Publication discloses that the user can register the toy online by providing the unique registration code for that toy to an online website. The '428 Publication specifies that the Registration Subsystem can register the user by causing the user to create a user account with a user ID and password, and further the Registration Subsystem can examine “the registration code against stored data relating to a plurality of registration codes each representing a toy for sale.” ('428 Publication at ¶44). Therefore, each toy is provided with a unique registration code that can be validated for access to a restricted online environment.
While interaction in virtual worlds can provide many benefits to the user, it can also bring unwanted risks and burdens. Significantly, many problems have arisen in the prior art with respect to enabling virtual world users to maintain and transfer assets obtained in a virtual world. Furthermore, virtual world environments often require a user to create an account or profile to gain access to the virtual world. For example, as disclosed in the '428 Publication, the user is required to provide personal information to the virtual world registration module in order to create an account. Thereby, the virtual world environment is enabled to keep track of the user and monitor the user's activities, purchases, and interactions. Furthermore, systems such as the one described in the '428 Publication, can track the use of particular toy because access is conditioned upon entry of unique registration code provided with each toy. Despite the requirements, users desire to limit the amount of information that they share with or is tracked by a virtual world environment.
The desire to limit the amount of personal information shared in a virtual world environment is especially important when the users are children or young adults. Unfortunately, many juveniles create accounts and share information in virtual world environments without the knowledge of their parents. Online activity by juveniles is often difficult for parents to monitor or restrict because there is no physical toy to take away from the juveniles. Mass media has given significant attention to the grave risks and dangers associated with the unsecured sharing of the personal information of juveniles on public websites, including child predators and solicitation. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that virtual world interactive computing has become highly popular for children and young adults.
In addition to providing ways to limit or eliminate the sharing of personally identifying information with a virtual world environment, users desire the ability to acquire, maintain, and transfer assets obtained in a virtual world environment. Prior art systems are inefficient in enabling effective retention and transfer of assets by a virtual world user. Significantly, users do not have a means by which to exchange a tangible object to effectuate a transfer of virtual world assets or commodities. Additionally, virtual world commodities in the prior art systems are associated with a particular user account and thus difficult to transfer between users. While the virtual world systems of the prior art accomplish their intended purposes, they provide poor protection for the users of a virtual world environment and do not enable efficient means by which to maintain and transfer virtual world commodities.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an apparatus and method for providing a device that can enable anonymous access to a restricted virtual world environment. Additionally, it would be advantageous to provide an apparatus and method to enable virtual world commodities to be stored and transferred on a tangible device.